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U.S. Detects Al Qaeda Camp in Iran - NBC News
Wed Sep 25, 9:18 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. intelligence has detected what appears to be an al Qaeda training camp in a remote region of eastern Iran along the border with Afghanistan ( news - web sites), NBC News reported on Wednesday, citing unidentified sources.
The network said it was told by its sources that overhead imagery of the site shows a suspected terrorist camp that includes a driving course and rifle range very much like al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan that were used to train for assassinations, NBC reported.
NBC quoted the sources as saying that Iran's civilian government may not know the camp exists but that Iranian military and intelligence certainly would.
Asked about the report, a U.S. official said "there are some pockets of al Qaeda in Iran near the border" but would not comment further. A Pentagon ( news - web sites) spokeswoman declined to comment, referring calls to the intelligence community.
The Washington Post reported last month that two top al Qaeda deputies were harbored in Iran along with dozens of al Qaeda fighters.
Iran has denied that al Qaeda members have sought refuge within its borders "It has become a bad habit of some American circles to issue repetitious and baseless charges against Iran. Those al Qaeda members are not in Iran," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told Reuters in response to the earlier report.
Washington has named Iran part of an "axis of evil" accusing it of seeking to acquire weapons of mass destruction and sponsoring terrorism, a charge Iran denies.